The Person I Admire

Maria Corazon â€Å"Cory† Sumulong Cojuangco Aquino (January 25, 1933 – August 1, 2009) was the 11th President of the Philippines and the first woman to hold that office. Aquino was also the first popularly and democratically-elected female president and head of state in Asia. [1][2] She is best remembered for leading the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution, which toppled the authoritarian regime of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos and restored democracy in the Philippines. Tita (Auntie) Cory†, as she is affectionately known, is considered and revered by many Filipinos as an icon of Democracy, and has been hailed by TIME Magazine as the â€Å"Saint of Democracy,† due to her well-known spiritual life and strong adherence to non-violence and democracy. A self-proclaimed â€Å"plain housewife†,[3] Aquino was married to Senator Benigno Aquino, Jr. , the popular opposition leader and staunchest critic of then President Ferdinand Marcos. Senator Aquino was assassinated on August 21, 1983 upon returning to the Philippines after his exile in the United States. After her husband's assassination, the widowed Aquino became the unwilling and reluctant leader of the opposition against the authoritarian rule of the Marcos regime. She united the fragmented opposition and strengthened its moral crusade against the abuses and excesses of President Marcos' martial rule. In late 1985, when President Marcos called for a snap election, Cory Aquino was called upon by the people to challenge his regime. Reluctant at first, Aquino thrust herself into the political arena after one million signatures urging her to run for president were presented to her. Despite having no prior political experience, except being her husband Ninoy's wife, Aquino proved to be a cult leader, inspiring orator and skilled campaigner. She ran for president with former senator Salvador Laurel as her vice-presidential running mate. When the Marcos allies-dominated Batasang Pambansa proclaimed Ferdinand Marcos The Great Hero as the winner in the 1986 snap elections, Aquino called for massive civil disobedience protests against him, declaring herself as having been cheated and as the real winner in the elections. Filipinos enthusiastically heeded her call and rallied behind her. These series of events eventually led to the ouster of Marcos from power grabbing and the installation of Aquino as president of the Philippines in February 1986, an event which is now known as the historic 1986 EDSA . The Person I Admire THE PERSON I ADMIRE/THE INSIPER There are so many people who have changed so many lives in my community especially to the youth, but Mandla Ndlovu was born to save the community with his uniqueness to others. He gave up his high powered job just to make sure that his community is a better place for everyone. Mandla Ndlovu was born and raised in Estcourt, he was very popular in the community their say it takes the whole village to raise a child. Everyone knew him at an early age and many parents wanted their children’s to be like him, because he was respecting and every Saturday he goes to clean the church than Sunday he goes to church.Unfortunately his mother was a drunker and he never knew who his father was. Normal he was used to look after himself and his mother when she was drunk, by the age of elven he was working in a super market part time just to make sure that he doesn’t go to bed with an empty stomach. He matriculated in 2001 and he got four distinctions, the municipality council arranged for him to further his studies in Mangosuthu University of technology . sadly his mother died when he was doing level three of his degree.In 2009 Mandla finished his law degree and he was desperate for a job, because he didn’t have much experience in the field so he was willing to do any job. His first client was his father but they both didn’t know that they are connected; luckily they won the case in court. Njabulo â€Å"Mandlas father† was more than satisfied, so he went to Mandlas home to thank him personally for job well done and to invite him to his daughter’s wedding. When he got there he saw a picture of Mandla and his mother, he asked Mandla about that women on the picture and he told him that it his late mother.Njabulo started trying and Mandla was confused; he asked what wrong, than he told him that he once dated Mandlas mother and they had a child together in 1983, the same year Mandla was born and his mother ran away with him. They found each other and they started building their relationship like father and sun. Njabulo was very old and he was a chief in the community, Mandla was his first born so he takes after his father’s chiefance. Mandla used his education and he made same changes in the community, even though he had to go against his father’s rules and the community supported him including his stepmother.Firstly he abolished that girls should leave and get married by the age of 15, that was his father’s rule. Secondly he saw a need of a library, so he approached ABSA bank for a contribution in building a library in my community and ABSA agreed, they take of everything. Thirdly he didn’t promote paranga so he chooses to lead by example and he had one wife, the other chiefs blamed him. He told them that he is the first chief with high powered qualifications. Fourthly every pension day he organizes transport to transport the pension receives to a receiving po int and sometimes he uses his own car.Ever since Mandla became a chief he influenced the say that says education is the key to success to everyone, because his first priority was education. He normally invite motivational speaks ,like DR Gwala and MR Mvelase once in six months sometimes he’s the one who motivating the youth ,he once said that we all have the ability; the difference is how we use it and that Mountains but doubt can create them. These words motivated me as I’m here today and I’m not the only one.Lastly he asked the community to fund raise and he uses that to oblate students who don’t money to register at the high institution of education. Every time he come across the young ones playing, he will ask them their wishes and tell them that no one is given a wish without being given the power to make it come true. If it wasn’t for Mandla s intelligence my community would not be a better place as it is right now. Mandla will always be a he ro to many for us and a role model to the generations to come. Leaders are born with leadership skills like Mandla he was a great leader. The Person I Admire THE PERSON I ADMIRE/THE INSIPER There are so many people who have changed so many lives in my community especially to the youth, but Mandla Ndlovu was born to save the community with his uniqueness to others. He gave up his high powered job just to make sure that his community is a better place for everyone. Mandla Ndlovu was born and raised in Estcourt, he was very popular in the community their say it takes the whole village to raise a child. Everyone knew him at an early age and many parents wanted their children’s to be like him, because he was respecting and every Saturday he goes to clean the church than Sunday he goes to church.Unfortunately his mother was a drunker and he never knew who his father was. Normal he was used to look after himself and his mother when she was drunk, by the age of elven he was working in a super market part time just to make sure that he doesn’t go to bed with an empty stomach. He matriculated in 2001 and he got four distinctions, the municipality council arranged for him to further his studies in Mangosuthu University of technology . sadly his mother died when he was doing level three of his degree.In 2009 Mandla finished his law degree and he was desperate for a job, because he didn’t have much experience in the field so he was willing to do any job. His first client was his father but they both didn’t know that they are connected; luckily they won the case in court. Njabulo â€Å"Mandlas father† was more than satisfied, so he went to Mandlas home to thank him personally for job well done and to invite him to his daughter’s wedding. When he got there he saw a picture of Mandla and his mother, he asked Mandla about that women on the picture and he told him that it his late mother.Njabulo started trying and Mandla was confused; he asked what wrong, than he told him that he once dated Mandlas mother and they had a child together in 1983, the same year Mandla was born and his mother ran away with him. They found each other and they started building their relationship like father and sun. Njabulo was very old and he was a chief in the community, Mandla was his first born so he takes after his father’s chiefance. Mandla used his education and he made same changes in the community, even though he had to go against his father’s rules and the community supported him including his stepmother.Firstly he abolished that girls should leave and get married by the age of 15, that was his father’s rule. Secondly he saw a need of a library, so he approached ABSA bank for a contribution in building a library in my community and ABSA agreed, they take of everything. Thirdly he didn’t promote paranga so he chooses to lead by example and he had one wife, the other chiefs blamed him. He told them that he is the first chief with high powered qualifications. Fourthly every pension day he organizes transport to transport the pension receives to a receiving po int and sometimes he uses his own car.Ever since Mandla became a chief he influenced the say that says education is the key to success to everyone, because his first priority was education. He normally invite motivational speaks ,like DR Gwala and MR Mvelase once in six months sometimes he’s the one who motivating the youth ,he once said that we all have the ability; the difference is how we use it and that Mountains but doubt can create them. These words motivated me as I’m here today and I’m not the only one.Lastly he asked the community to fund raise and he uses that to oblate students who don’t money to register at the high institution of education. Every time he come across the young ones playing, he will ask them their wishes and tell them that no one is given a wish without being given the power to make it come true. If it wasn’t for Mandla s intelligence my community would not be a better place as it is right now. Mandla will always be a he ro to many for us and a role model to the generations to come. Leaders are born with leadership skills like Mandla he was a great leader.

When Disruptive Technologies Attack

Christensen, in his article, it says that in the mainstream market, there is the idea of covering products that could sweep the mainstream trend in the market. This disruptive technologies appear not so in demand to the customers. However, as these disruptive technologies undergo improvement and continuously interrupt the flagship of the mainstream industry, it would make sense to the customers until it overrun the modern and mainstream trend in the market.And companies would tend to look for those products that have potential of being disruptive technologies, then eventually send it to the market and disturb the noise of the mainstream by the commotion of its disruption. Among the examples that have been presented by Christensen, I was most persuaded by his citation of the hard disk and its development in the industry. This example could be witnessed by every one of us.Aside from the fact that he presented a recent study on the particular hard disk industry, the hard facts and the d ata presented in the text were all comprehensive such that it showed clearly the trend of how the hard disks became one of disruptive technology. Also, nowadays, we really witnessed and experienced the disruption of hard disk industry especially those who owned a personal computer or computer notebook. This could be more appreciative in terms of the people and readers for them to understand more about the disruptive technologies and hot it works. There are different ways in which companies make these disruptive technologies.One of their way to come up with such product is through identification of the potentiality of a product, that is, if it could be disruptive or not. They use some basis like the supporters of the product to come out in the market. Obviously, those in higher positions like managers and marketing officers would disagree in disruptive technologies sine the incentive of making profit here is at high stake. Another way is that companies locate the target project after identifying one product if it is disruptive or not. In this case, they prefer the target which has lower risk of emerging the product as threat or otherwise, it would be a threat.It is one of the most critical ways since it would determine the outcome of being a disruptive product to the industry. And still, another way is the establishment of an organization that would be a fixed factor for the disruptive product to surpass the mainstream market. At this point, well established companies are mostly the ones who could form such organizations which are often called disruptive organization. At one point or another, Christensen’s thesis has managed to present all sides in the aspect of emerging disruptive technologies. Thus, no points of rebuttals could make sense after the good presentation of the trend and processes. Reference: Brower, J. L. and Christensen, C. M. (undate). Disruptive Technologies, Catching the Wave. Harvard Business Review ON POINT. Retrieved on September 27, 2007 from Harvard University Online Library on the World Wide Web: http://www.hbsp.com/relay.jhtml?name=mylibraryWhen Disruptive Technologies Attack

Electrical Engineering Project of Jewish General Hospital Research Paper

Electrical Engineering Project of Jewish General Hospital - Research Paper Example The purpose of this project was to perform extensive repairs to the old emergency generator #1 located in the basement floor of the Jewish General Hospital (JGH). Many of these repairs consisted of replacing the starters of the generator, replacing the hoses and probes for temperature and pressure, and replacing the wiring of the generator’s engine. In addition, the alternator had to be dismantled in order for Hewitt Equipment Limited Inc. to verify it, clean it, and replace the bearings. However, we realized that it would be impossible for Hewitt Inc. workers to move the alternator out of its present location due to the fact that it was too big compared to the entrance door of that room. Therefore, my role as a project manager was to contact an entrepreneur that will create a new opening as well as install new doors in that room in order for â€Å"Hewitt Inc.† workers to be able to move the alternator out the room without any issues. To do so, I first had to contact an architect known as David Gordon from â€Å"Rubin & Rotman associates† for drawings of the proposed opening and the dimensions of the new doors. For example, Mr. Gordon recommended that only a double door made out of insulated with thermal breezes must be installed in the generator’s room. He also mentioned that the double door must have an opening angle of 180 degrees as well as a fire resistance of 90 minutes. Furthermore, I had to approve the drawings sent by the architect before proceeding with the project and fill out a â€Å"direct purchase requisition† of $4500 for all of the professional services in architecture. It was important to know that the architect was also responsible for coordinating all of the architectural work, which consisted of a new opening and the installation of new doors in the generator’s room, with the subcontractors.     

Project and Change Management Exam Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Project and Change Management Exam - Assignment Example In the Denver airport case, there were no alternative options that were initially considered. It was only after the failure of the automated baggage system when they started looking for other options. In terms of finances, expensive means of finance were used to raise the needed money for additional costs.2 2. In the ERP implementation at Bombardier Aerospace, insufficient planning, insufficient risk assessment, overestimated savings on new methods and switching tools in the middle of the project are some of the project classic mistakes that became evident. 3. The automated baggage system was a huge project, which required good estimations in terms of time and finances. To avoid poor estimation, the project should have been broken down into manageable phases.3 The classic mistake of insufficient risk assessment could have been avoided by engaging a risk officer who advises the company on risk measures and procedures. The risk of contractor failure could have been identified and mitigated. The project leaders should have involved and educated all the stakeholders and prevent conflicts and litigation against the organization. United Airlines, a major stakeholder, should have been involved at the start of the project so as to avoid future risks of litigation when the project is abandoned. 5. The project should have been re-assessed regularly to check if it is still valid. Most projects arise due to excitement and group enthusiasm which fades away as time goes by. Exit champions are the best in doing such re-assessments; they challenge the project based on realistic data. If new members were introduced to the Denver airport project, it would have been challenged and stopped much earlier. It ended up taking too long with no success at last because of involving the same people again and again.4 It is also suggested that control

Managemant Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Managemant - Movie Review Example In retrospect, the financial crisis was the result of a financial bubble in which assets, such as stocks, bonds, homes, financial instruments, and anything of economic value, acquire an inflated market price in relation to their actual, or intrinsic value. In other words, this crisis was the result of speculation, lack of government regulation, absence of any foresight on the part of financial regulators (such as the Federal Reserve Bank, Securities and Exchange Commission, the Congress, and ultimately, the financial industry to self-regulate), and the greed of investors to throw caution to the winds and take big, irrational risks. The film was produced and directed by Charles H. Ferguson which made extensive research into the causes of the worst financial crisis this generation has seen, narrated by actor Matt Damon, and co-edited by Chad Beck and Adam Bolt. In hindsight, the cause of the crisis originated several administrations back, to the presidency of Bill Clinton, when the banking regulation that mandated separation of banking and investing functions of banks got scrapped, which in effect created a moral hazard, in which the financial industry took huge risks. The elimination of the separation of banking and investment created a frenzy to make big profits out of new financial instruments called derivatives, such as collateralized debt obligations (CDO) and its twin, the credit default swaps (CDS). Further, investment bankers did not want their industry to be subjected to oversight and regulation, arguing that this goes against the spirit of enterprise, capitalism, and free markets. The bankers specifically refused to agree to put limits on their leveraging activities, which created a financial house of cards to maximize their profits with only a small capital needed to finance large transactions. The financial crisis which started in 2008 ironically produced

Draw their Veils over Their Bosoms Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Draw their Veils over Their Bosoms - Essay Example Though Muslim women are not this secluded in the modern life, they have to seclude themselves from head to toe. This document shows the religious beliefs of Islamic people. Though there is nowhere in the Quran where it is indicated that women should be secluded from head to toe, women are expected to do so. This shows in a way that women are discriminated against and there are activities that men undertake but women are not expected to follow suit. However, it also shows that Islamic people value their religion. They had to follow in the footsteps of Prophet Muhammad. The article has had an impact on the lives of Muslim women today. It is quite difficult to find an Islamic women walking around exposing themselves (Duiker & Spielvogel, 2009). There are instances where these Muslim women wear veils that only leave a space for their eyes especially. This mostly happens to the not yet married ones. Moreover, Islamic women do not interact with the male gender unless in it is very important. They are only allowed to interact freely with their

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M&S Lingerie ad 'Socially Irresponsible' - Essay Example The article compares this image to another recently banned image used by Lynx, for the same sexually suggestive reasons. The Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) is cited as beginning to take a tougher approach on these issues, backed by David Cameron in a bid to stop unregulated sexual imagery. This comes at a time when the Prime Minister himself is trying to uphold ‘family values’ and thus the advertisement industry is being required to comply with these new political ideas. This issue has wider implications because it involves the marketing industry as a whole as well as calling into question ethical theory and social responsibility for companies. Schlegelmilch & Oberseder (2010) have examined ethical trends in marketing (through the use of several types of marketing literature) and found the following: a generally increasing appreciation of ethical and moral issues in marketing (see figure 1), an increase in sexual imagery issues within ethical marketing, an increased understanding of the ethical needs associated with different religious and social groups, and an increased role for the internet in ethical marketing debates Figure 1 – The number of ethics related articles found in various marketing journals throughout recent decades; showing an increasing trend (Schlegelmilch & Oberseder, 2010) This general increase in scholarly articles about the ethics of marketing, as well as the evidence from the original article that the ASA is taking an increased interest in the reduction of available sexual imagery is interesting. Firstly, it suggests that there is an increased need for marketing companies to ensure that their images are socially appropriate without losing any of the impact factor needed to be effective. Secondly, it suggests that overly sexual imagery may not have the desired effect on the customer, and may have a ‘turn-off’ factor above a certain level. Finally, the evidence suggests that sexual imagery needs to be con fined to the appropriate avenues, rather than being used in outdoor advertisements like this Marks & Spencers advertisement. Interestingly, this was not the only article about the links between marketing and social effect to be published in Marketing Week recently. Another article describes the banned Final Destination poster involving disturbing imagery (see Figure 2) with a skull being shattered by steel rods (Johnson, 2011). Again, this image was for use in the public domain in outdoor locations, easily seen by children. The advertisement series was banned for being disturbing and showing horrific imagery where it was not appropriate. Again, this shows a growing concern about the type of advertising imagery available in the public domain and a need to show concern for who may be able to view this imagery. It also suggests that sexual imagery is not the only target for responsible marketing, and all types of image should be considered before release. Again, it must be noted that i mages need to fall within a small threshold of effectiveness and social responsibility (Sen & Bhattacharya, 2001). Research by Robin & Reidenbach (1987) suggests that many marketing directors believe that there should not be an issue between social responsibi

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Airline Passenger Security Screening - Essay Example The security of the aviation sector has been significantly strengthened over the past several years through the efforts of the Federal government working with State, local, and tribal governments, the international community, and the private sector, but One of the major steps taken was when in June 2006 President ordered the development of a comprehensive National Strategy for Aviation Security in which the Secretary of Homeland Security, in accordance with challenges identified in NSPD-47 and HSPD-16, was to coordinate the operational implementation of seven supporting plans. These plans are Aviation Transportation System Security Plan, Aviation Operational Threat Response Plan, Aviation Transportation System Recovery Plan, Air Domain Surveillance and Intelligence Integration Plan, International Aviation Threat Reduction Plan, Domestic Outreach Plan, and International Outreach Plan. Other plans such as Alien Flight Student Program were also implemented (AFSP) to ensure that foreign students seeking training at flight schools regulated by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) are not to be given flight training until Secretary of Homeland Security first determines that doing so will not pose a threat to aviation or national security. Although such plans might seem rude, but it's a necessary impoliteness to ensure safety. Q2: The Q2: The greatest threat faced by the United States aviation after the tragic event of September 11, 2001 at present is terrorism, and this incident can serve as the best case in point of the amount of damage and chaos that can be caused due to threats to aviation security. This can also serve as an example as to how with enhancements in security measures, terrorists have also shown ability to evolve and exploit weaknesses, and the amount of damage they can cause due to proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. All aircraft are under threat of onboard bombs, hijacking and use of standoff weapons, and these aircrafts can also be used as weapons to disrupt aviation transport system as mentioned in above example. Use of such unconventional attack methods by terrorists is not a recent phenomenon. Decade of 1970s has been a witness to it. Hijacking of Trans World Airlines Flight 847 in 1985; hijacking of Pan Am Flight 73 in 1986 in Karachi, Pakistan; the destruction of Pan Am Flight 103 over Scotland in 1988 are just a few examples of religious extremism and state-sponsored terrorism. Interest to instigate terrorism can lie with terrorist groups, who are politically and religiously motivated, and kill civilians indiscriminately to fuel propaganda campaigns. Over time their capabilities have increased due to advancement in technology. It can lie with hostile nations, who have aggressive intentions and support terrorism. Some nations which are politically and economically weak, have weak infrastructure and leadership, can be host to terrorist groups unknowingly. Some domestic criminals with detailed knowledge of aviation sector can also be a great threat if exploited by external elements. Thus it is the need of the hour that United States take preemptive measures to counter terrorism threats, because although financial loss is great and can be recovered, but lives lost have no price. Q3: In United States, airport security is not controlled centrally, but is managed at state or local

Accounting and management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Accounting and management - Essay Example Wages have increased by almost by 17%, electricity expenses have gone up by 11%; a similar increase has been experienced for accountant charges. Single digit increases have been witnessed by expenses on rent (9.09%), insurance premium (5.66%), and telephone bill (6.25%). The most distressing deviation has been suffered by the component of sundry expenses, by an abnormal amount of 40%. This points out to the fact that the company does not have adequate control on money flowing out in minute amounts. It has spent in necessary amounts that have resulted in the sundry expenses surging so high. The high sundry expenses can have another implication as well. There might be corruption in the system and the employees take undue advantage of the same. There needs to be sufficient control on the expenses as revealed by the analysis. Samuel Pepys needs to carry out adequate research before he embarks on the preparation of annual budget. The company had actually exhibited operational efficiency by garnering a higher sales volume than was budgeted. However, all of that achievement got subsided by the enormous costs incurred by the company. Use of accessories like telephone and electricity must be regulated and used as needed. Unnecessary wastage of costly resources must be avoided. Methodical accounting of all expenses must be carried out and reviewed on a periodical basis so that the purpose for which a cost is occurring gets effectively monitored. The management should initiate proper steps to ensure that they can check the adverse labour rate variance and material cost variance. Though the actual sales has increased from the budgeted sales, yet because of the increased expenditures, the company’s actual profit is lower than that of the budgeted profit. So, to check the excess expenditures proper steps are recommended to the

Political Chaos and Stalemate in East Asia Essay

Political Chaos and Stalemate in East Asia - Essay Example On the other hand, it also may be rather interesting to analyze the views of the opposing side which claims that existence of the Asian values can hardly be held responsible for the success. For example, they argued that people in this part of the world willingly adopt the role of servants of authoritarian regimes. In addition to that, it is suggested that while the above mentioned values existed for a considerable amount of time, the rapid economic growth occurred exclusively in the previous century which challenges the direct connection between the two phenomena.After a detailed examination of the attitude towards the Asian values, it may be rather logical to turn to analysis of some of the states in the region. By far, the country that should be addressed in particular is Japan. Speaking of the future of this member of G7 one might point out and important aspect of its political life: for a considerable amount of time the latter has been dominated by representatives of Liberal Dem ocratic Party (Hrebenar 69). Indeed, the second half of the previous centuries featured only a hand full of Prime Ministers that belonged to a different party. All this provides a person with sufficient grounds suggesting that the future of this country will be closely connected to the activity of the party in question. The next important country of the region is Indonesia. It must be noted that the second half of the twentieth century is marked by the rule of Suharto (Anderson 21).

Theory Of Constaints Assignment Essay Example for Free

Theory Of Constaints Assignment Essay Question 1:  Ã‚  Ã‚   Highlight the production management philosophy and principles of TOC Any manufacturing company’s success is dependent on how well its resources perform, in other words the level of performance of its factory. The factory’s performance is in turn constrained by the manufacturing infrastructure and is hence designed so as to suit the company’s strategy related to the products and their quantities. Production management essentially takes the company’s strategic requirements in terms of its key competitive objectives, for instance shorter lead time, low cost etc. , and translates them into schedule for the factory environment in terms of inventory, job sequencing and time table etc., so that these objectives are met (Childe, 1997, p.28). In an industrial environment, there are always constraints that affect the throughput of a system in terms of quantity or quality of product delivered or the delivery time (Lange Ziegenbien, 2005, p.1).Some of these constraints are bottlenecks i.e. resources whose availability is less than the demand placed on them, while others are potential bottlenecks or Capacity Constrained Resources CCRs i.e. resources who utilization is close to capacity and in case of non-optimal utilization may become bottleneck (Telsang, 2002, p. 518). Theory of Constraints was developed to address such practical problems in manufacturing. This theory given by Goldman and Cox in their famous book Goal is basically a productions and operations management strategy dealing with the CCRs i.e. potential bottlenecks in an industry environment (Quassin, 2000, p.3). According to Goldman and Cox, the goal of all the manufacturing companies is to make money (quoted, Childe, 1997, p.29). Hence according to them the success for any manufacturing company would come if they can properly identify the aims to their business and then deal with the constraints which would prove to be present or potential bottlenecks in achieving the goal (Childe, 1997, p.115) The Theory of Constraints was developed in over a decade’s period, by the Israeli Physicist Dr. Eliyahu M Goldratt based on his observations of certain common characteristics that effect system operations (Dettmer, 1998, p.11). This combined with his thoughts comprises the Theory of Constraints TOC, which is a collection of principles, a set of generic tools and the specific applications of these tools. The principles explain the management actions and the various interactions between processes. The tools are methods that can be used to apply these principles in specific instances, while the applications are the instances where these tools have been successfully applied in these situations many times so that they can be considered as generic solutions to the problems. Hence, the TOC is still evolving to this day (Dettmer Schragenheim, 2000, p.13). Among the principles of TOC, the most basic are three key assumptions about constraint management, five focusing steps to guide the system and three measures to assess whether the actions being taken at the local level are producing the desired results at the global level. Assumptions – TOC is based on three interrelated premises:   Every system has a goal and asset of necessary conditions that must be satisfied if the goal has to be achieved, The overall system’s performance is more than just the sum of its component performances, and Very few factors or constraints, often only one, limit a system’s performance at any given time (Ronen, 2005, p.21) Five Focusing Steps – Goldratt created five steps as a way to make sure that the management focuses on the process for continuous improvement Identify the system’s constraint, Decide how to exploit the system’s constraint, Subordinate everything else to the decision taken in the step above Evaluate alternative ways to elevate the constraint Return to the 1st step in case the system constraints have been changed (Srinivasan, Jones Miller, n.d., p.136) Evaluation – The evaluation of the operating decisions can be done by the three financial yardsticks which are provided by the constraint theory – Throughput (T), Inventory or Investment (I), and Operation Expense (OE) (Dettmer Schragenheim, 2000, p.40). These form the yardsticks because as mentioned earlier, according to Goldman and Cox, the goal of all the manufacturing companies is to make money (quoted, Childe, 1997, p.29) Question 2:  Ã‚  Ã‚   Describe how TOC can help to prioritize the most profitable high impact initiatives within a production environment The use of Theory of Constraints in the production management was initially done to solve the problems of bottlenecks, scheduling and inventory reduction (Wang, 2002, p. 149). Industry’s aim to achieve the goal of making money has been traditionally achieved by reducing the operating costs. The logic is that every dollar that is saved adds up to the profit. A compelling reason for adopting such a measure is that the costs can be controlled. The next step is to reduce the inventory while increasing the throughput is the last priority with the production managers. Japanese saw the value that can be achieved by reducing the inventory and hence put this as their first priority. They developed what is known as the Just-in-Time philosophy. For doing this the pipeline needs to be kept flowing i.e. a pull phenomenon, which correspondingly increases the importance of increasing the throughput to being the second highest priority (Dettmer Schragenheim, 2000, p.44). However, according to Goldratt’s Constraint theory, the highest priority should be given to increasing the throughput, while reducing the inventory or investment should have the second priority and reducing the operating expense should be the last priority (Bushong Talbott, 1999, p. 2). The reason for this is in the traditional methods, the production managers were assuming that an infinite amount of hours were available in each factory’s work and machines, which is not practically possible. Hence, Goldratt began by assuming that the manufacturing company is essentially a system with machines and people available for finite periods of time per day or week or month. He further assumed that at any instant in time only one factory or resource could prove to be a bottleneck in achieving the goal of making money. Hence, it followed that if this bottleneck was running to its full capacity, increasing the speed of the other centers would not do any good, as the speed of this particular centre would not increase (McMullen, 1998, p.105). This can also be explained as follows. Theoretically the any of the constraints could vary from zero to infinity, but practically the operating expense and inventory cannot be reduced under zero, neither can the throughput be increased till infinity. However, the practical limits for reducing the operating expense and the inventory are actually much higher than zero. This is because the manufacturers have to spend money on them in order to make money from the end products using these investments as inputs. While the practical limits for increasing the throughput is still much less than infinity, but its potential for adding up to the profits is much higher than the potential to do the same using cost-cutting. Cost-cutting is also risky in nature, because there is always the danger of spending less than what is required which would directly impact on the quality, and hence the inventory too in the long run (Dettmer Schragenheim, 2000, p.44). The management philosophy of Theory of Constraints can hence be viewed into three separate areas which are interrelated: logistics, performance management and logical thinking. Logistics includes the drum-buffer-rope scheduling, buffer management and VAT analysis. Using these tools, the tasks are scheduled in a production environment and prioritized. The next area is the Performance measurement which includes the Throughput, Inventory, the operating expense and the five focusing steps which have been discussed earlier. The thinking process tools help in identifying the root-problem (current reality tree), identifying and expanding win-win solutions (evaporating clouds and the future reality tree), and developing the implementation plans (prerequisite tree and transition tree) (Stein, 1997, p. 199). .DBR Scheduling – The basis for the DBR or drum-buffer-rope scheduling is the factory’s primary constraint which could be a present or potential bottleneck. This primary constraint acts as the drum for the DB scheduling. This scheduling process produces the schedule of what jobs to be produced and in what order on the drum. A time element known as the buffer is then used to establish the realistic commitment dates for the operation and its deadline. Another time element called the rope determines the schedule for introducing additional tasks and materials into the work process flow of the operation. Each task or batch in the drum schedule has a buffer and a rope time element. There are other time elements in the buffer also which when taken as a group form the time buffers (McMullen, 1998, p.106). This DBR scheduling process synchronizes the entire work throughout the factory, and creates a synchronized manufacturing state by basing all the schedules on the drum schedule or the bottleneck. In addition to this, it also provides feedback and control process which is known as buffer management. The function of the buffer management system is to ensure that all the other factory resources which are non-constrained are working on the right jobs, at the right times in the sequence, and in the right production batch quantities such that the schedules are supported from the drum task and customer deliveries are met. Finally all the non-constrained by definition have some spare capacity. While this is not excess capacity and can be used in the productive or protective sense, the scheduling of these is also important so as not to have excess inventory or investment condition. This is taken care by introducing the time buffers, discussed earlier, in the DBR schedule such that no production is lost at the drum. The extension of this process into the dynamic buffering can be used for fine-tuning the extra capacity (McMullen, 1998, p.107). Hence, this scheduling process reliable delivery schedules for the customers, because the schedules are based on finite capacity assumption instead of the erroneous infinite capacity assumption (Bushong Talbott, 1999, p. 3). Question 3:  Ã‚  Ã‚   Discuss how you will implement the proposed philosophy in order to rescue a sick hypothetical organization The prior section dealt with the drum-buffer-rope i.e. DBR scheduling, which is the TOC production planning methodology. As the aim of the TOC is to see to it that the constraint does not effect the production schedule, the DBR takes care of the weakest link i.e. the drum, schedule i.e. the buffer, and deadline i.e. the rope (Greeff Ghoshal, 2003, p. 70). In addition to the DBR scheduling, a buffer management scheme was also described above, which is needed to monitor the entire process. In the tradition approach, the DBR scheduling was used as the planning process and the buffer management was used to monitor the plan’s progress. In the present scenario, the DBR and buffer management process are dynamic and offer continuous feed backs to the production manager so that he can improve upon the system. As was mentioned in the first section, throughput is the primary are of focus of the TOC arrangement. The throughput is the money generated by the system after taking out the external costs, and this should be maximized for the profits to increase according to the theory of constraints. However, the implementation of TOC is not very easy in a practical situation, and in many cases it necessitates a change in the entire way a company operates. This difficulty can be explained by a simple example as follows. A company has identified that for increasing the its throughput, there is a need for producing the product and selling it with the lower sale price per product unit. As of now the company compensated its sales forces on a commission basis, based on the percent of sales and the people in this department try to sell their products with the highest sales price. This means that the company would need to develop an entirely new way of compensating its sales force. There might be further problems if the arrangement is not satisfactory enough to the sales people, which might lead to a drop in the sales – quite opposite to the goal of the company. Care should also be taken to remember that TOC is a dynamic management process. This means that the task does not end after finding out the constraint. On the contrary, the management should continuously analyze to see if this factor can be increased or some other factor might become a constraint. Such analysis should be made regularly and the options should be revised. In addition to this, continuous analysis should be made to check the operating expenses and inventory and investments should also be minimized (Bushong Talbott, 1999, p. 4). Example The above theories will be explained by taking an example below. First the basic system application is given using the TOC to explain the various constraints of the system. After this the complete system is shifted to a plant, which is a sick unit and steps are given to convert this plant into a optimal unit. Basic System and Constraints The example has a manufacturing unit which is essentially a machine that cuts silicon wafers into individual chips (Anderson, 2003, p. 30). The number of wafer cut by this machine in a unit time without getting overloaded is the constraint of the machine and the primary constraint of the entire manufacturing system. For instance, the machine can cut on 100 wafers per hours. In this case, it would be immaterial to get more raw materials since the constraint would still not be affected in this case. Now that the constraint of the system has been identified, a decision must be made on how to minimize its constraining ability on the system. The utilizing capacity of the constraint must be maximized i.e. the Capacity Constrained Resource, in this case the machine, must be fully utilized and must never be idle. Every unit of production that is lost on this system is a unit lost to the complete system (Anderson, 2003, p. 29). This constraint can be protected from being idle by providing a buffer or queue of raw materials for it to cut. For this example, let us assume that each wafer can be cut into 25 chips. That is to say 4 wafers would be needed by the machine per hours. This follows the generalization that the constraints are protected by buffers. The queue of silicon wafers in this case would be physical buffer of inventory.   In addition to this protecting a constraint is a necessary part of exploiting a constraint to the full (Anderson, 2003, p. 29). In case of the manufacturing system, the manufacturing unit can be protected from starvation or idle moments, by providing a buffer of silicon wafers. The unit also needs to be protected from power interruptions and surges, by providing a uninterruptible power supplies, and further giving a backup generator. The manpower related constraint can be sorted out by working the machine in three shifts by people of eight hours each, so that the machine is utilized for 24 hours per day. Finally the quality related issues can be sorted out by performing a quality check on the wafers prior to being set on the queue, to ensure that only good quality wafers are passed on to the manufacturing unit. In case of TOC care should be taken to ensure that subordination of all the activities are obtained to take care of the constraint (Anderson, 2003, p. 31). As can be seen in the example a decision is taken to see that the manufacturing unit is the constraint of the system, a and hence steps have been taken to take care of this constraint and utilize he machine for obtaining the maximum productivity. Ti subordinate all other activities to this decision, the flow of inventory should be regulated from the factory gate to the wafer cutting machine. The rate of sending the wafer to the machine should be same as the rate of the machine to entirely cut the wafer. Here, the rate of the cutter is the drum. The inventory of the factory gate to the cutter is the rope and a buffer in front of the cutter to prevent it from getting idle is the buffer. Plant as a Sick Unit Suppose that there are 10 such systems in a plant which is a sick unit. There are problems with excess inventory, the quality of wafers produced, the throughout is varied and is not stable and there are problems with delays between the operations with long periods where the machines are idle and others where there is extra load on the machines. The primary problem here is to streamline the operations. The basic constraint is already mentioned in the prior section i.e. the number of wafers that can be cut by a unit. This cannot be changed and must be utilized to the maximum. All the remaining actions must be subordinate to this activity such that the constraint or the drum is taken care. First of all the machines as a total can process 1000*10 =1000 wafers in a hour, which means 4*10 = 40 wafers must be passed to the machines per hour (as each wafer can be cut into 25 chips). Now that this has been decided, the queuing systems should ensure that the wafers are taken from the resource gate and passed to the machines. The easiest way of doing this would be to pass 4 sets of wafers per hour, after every 45 minutes 4 more wafers would be passed to the machines. This means that there would be enough time for checking the quality of the wafers and passing them to the machines, without worrying about the exact synchronization of each wafer to rate at which a machine cuts them. This would also take care of the idle periods of the machines, as in this case the machines would always have one wafer to cuts, by which time the other 4 wafers would be sent to it. The inventory would be controlled too. In addition, the throughput would be at a constant rate. Finally, the technique would also ensure that the burden on the quality checkers and machine operators is minimal. In the former case, the quality checkers could have a quality check wafers ready for a couple of hours advance, which would be passed to the machines every three quarters of an hours, which means these people do not need to be on job 24 hours a day. Also, the machine operators would have more time to check the power supply and other maintenance issues, while checking if the new wafer lot has been passed or not. The above example gives the implementation of Theory of Constraints method to a sick unit, to make it operate in an optimized way. The example taken is a very simplistic application which can be solved easily using the single DB technique. References Books Anderson DJ, 2003, Agile Management for Software Engineering: Applying the Thoery of Constraints for Business Results, New Jersey: Prentice Hall PTR Childe SJ, 1997, An Introduction to Computer Aided Production Management, 1st Edition, London: Chapman Hall Dettmer HW, 1998, Breaking the Constraints to World-Class Performance, Milwaukee: ASQ Quality Press Dettmer HW, Schragenheim E, 2000, Manufacturing at Warp’s Speed: Optimizing Supply Chain Financial Performance, Florida: CRC Press Greeff G, Ghoshal R, 2004, Practical E-Manufacturing and Supply Chain Management, Oxford: Elsevier McMullen TB, 1998, Introduction to the Theory of Constraints (Toc) Management System, Florida:  CRC Press Ronen B, 2005, The Theory of Constraints: Practice and Research, Amsterdam: IOC Press Stein RE, 1999, The Theory of Constraints Applications in Quality and Manufacturing, New York: CRC Press Telsang M, 2002, Industrial Engineering and Production Management, New Delhi: S Chand Company Ltd. Wang JX, 2002, What Every Engineer Should know about Decision Making Under Uncertainty, New York: CRC Press Online Articles Bushong JG, Talbott JC, 1999, The CPA in Industry: An Application of the Theory of Constraints, The CPA Journal, April 1999 Issue, http://www.nysscpa.org/cpajournal/1999/0499/Departments/D530499.HTM, Article Accessed on 18th September 2007. Lange I, Ziegenbien A, 2005, The Constraints Game – Learning the Theory of Constraints with a Dice Game, 9th International Workshop on Experimental Interactive Learning in Industrial management New Approaches on Learning, Studying and Teaching, http://www.simlab.tkk.fi/events/lange.pdf, Article Accessed on 18th September 2007. Quassin RY, 2000, The Theory of Constraints in Manufacturing, Journal of the Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences, J. Braz. Soc. Mech. Sci.  vol.22  no.4  Rio de Janeiro, 2000, http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?pid=S0100-73862000000400001script=sci_arttext, Article Accessed on 18th September 2007. Srinivasan M, Jones D, Miller A, n.d., Applying the Theory of Constraints Principles and Lean Thinking at the Marine Corps Maintenance Centre, Defense Acquisition Review Journal, http://www.dau.mil/pubs/arq/2004arq/Srinivasan.pdf, Article Accessed on 18th September 2007.

Food And Beverage Analysis Marketing Essay

Food And Beverage Analysis Marketing Essay Urbanization, globalisation and agro-industrialization put increasing demands on the organization of food and beverage chains and networks. Food and beverage supply chains and networks once characterized by independence and autonomy of performers are now quickly moving in the direction of globally interrelated systems with a large diversity of difficult relationships. This is also touching the ways food is processed, produced and delivered at the market (Reardon and Barrett 2000; Van der Laan et al. 1999). Perishable food products can at the moment be shipped from halfway around the world at justly competitive prices. The market exerts a dual pressure on agro-food chains, constraining towards continuous agency coordination and innovation. Traditional price and quality issues are more significant than ever, since consumers can choose from a cumulative amount of products offered by challenging chains. Patterns of food production and consumption are at the core of all human ecology (Dietz et al.1996:181). The food production and dietary habits procedures that support them obviously have consequently affected the global environment and economy (Goodland 1997). Nearly 37% of the land surface of the Earth is used for agricultural production, including both cropland and grazing land (Harrison and Pearce 2000). Because of the environmental effects of food operation, development, production and consumption, it is important to understand both the factors that influence the human diet and the aspects of food production that are most harmful to the environment. Here we mainly focus on food and beverages operational and development issues, social and cultural factors that influence the production and consumption of food as well as how those issues influence on the production and consumption of food. Food and Beverages operational and development issues Food and beverages chains are seriously affected by consumers apprehensions regarding the quality, the safety and the sustainability of handling methods and food production. Public concerns regarding GMOs, environmental impact and chemical residues have to be met in an increasingly, competitive global environment. Greater consumer demands regarding the traceability, quality, and environmental friendliness of products and processes call for fundamentally new ways of producing, developing, and marketing products (Humphrey and Oetero 2000; Omta et al. 2001). This activates the growth of grades, agreements and standards regarding management practices and good production, over and above suitable monitoring systems to promise rapid responses and quality compliance. Supply-chain analysis is becoming an interdisciplinary activity. Distribution and production processes involve a mixture of PESTL (politic, socioeconomic, technological, legal and standards that are highly balancing in explainin g overall food and beverages chain performance (see Figure 1 below). Figure 1. Analytical perspectives on food chains Integrated logistics, production, innovation and information systems become of serious prominence for sustaining a competitive market position. In order to attain international collaboration between farmers, retail companies and agro-industries, cross-cultural alignment and strategic, compliance to national and relational trust and international regulations have become key issues. Reciprocal learning techniques and feed-back mechanisms are important to assure such global alliances. Although, in recent decades, the world has seen a cumulative integration of developing-country firms into geographically spread commodity chains or supply networks. These chains connect together traders, producers and processors from developing countries with consumers and retailers in urban centres and in the developed countries (Gereffi and Korzeniewitz 1994). Companies and firms involved in global food and beverages chains networks are facing rapid changes in the business environment, to which they must respond over continuous innovation. Practices and new procedures for organizing food supply networks with direct ties between primary producers, processors and retailers emerged to cope with health demands and food safety. Improving the specific stages in a chain typically results in sub-optimal total chain performance. Meant for this reason, agro-food companies attempt to implement regulations to all actors in the chain that become part of the global market and institutional env ironment (Jongen 2000; Van der Laan et al. 1999). Firms in developing countries face, however, particular restraints linked to limited access to (market and technical) information and reduced borrowing opportunities (Harris-White 1999). Chain integration can formerly be helpful to expand forecasts for sustainable resource management based on more stable access to information and markets that allow further investment in food quality management (Kuyvenhoven and Bigman 2001). Current studies concerning development and trade focus responsiveness on evolving barriers to agricultural exports from developing countries due to rigorous sanitary and phytosanitary necessities (Henson and Loader 2001; Otsuki et al. 2001). Liberalization of global trade is gradually accompanied by technical measures that enforce quality standards regarding residues, additives and microbiological contamination. Moreover, fast attentiveness takes place in the retail sectors for food products both in less-developed and developed countries where US- or EUowned supermarket chains such as (e.g., Royal Ahold, Carrefour, Tesco, Sainsburys, WalMart etcà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦) control an increasing share of food supply to urban consumers. Retailers are also dedicating more shelf space to suitable high-quality fresh products (selfservice) that are critical to retain middle-class and attract customers (Fearne and Hughes 1998; Marsden and Wrigley 1996). This poses further demands on processors and producers to satisfy uniform, high quality standards and recurrent delivery requirements (Reardon et al. 1999). International sourcing of perishable products to secure year-around supply (under private label) can be assured over long-term contracts and partnerships. Presence of smallholders from developing countries into global supply chains that satisfy these conditions used to be based on processes for sub-contracting and outsourcing under strict investigation with frequent audit of local practices and facilities (Dolan et al. 1999). However, in practice a cumulative degree of vertical integration within food, beverages and agribusiness networks can be noticed, based on complex predetermined measures for monitoring process standards and product quality. Consequently, producers can only maintain their market position if credible measures are taken to enhance product quality and safety. The complex connections between the before-mentioned processes of market globalization and integration, complemented by tendencies of changing consumption patterns and growing urbanization, bring about a number of essential changes in the organization of agro-food chains and networks. The rapid growth of supermarkets in both developing countries and developed (See appendix 1:25) extremely transforms the institutional landscape of exchange and agro-food production systems. Main tests as how to assure the participation of smallholder producers in these more and new demanding sourcing networks need to be addressed. Thoughtfulness should also be given to the institutional necessities that empower smallholders to meet the more rigorous quality regulations and food safety. International competition is increasingly taking place around the implementation of (private and public) regimes of standards an d grades. Positioning the values of chain reversal in practice implies that innovative methods are required that address the required conditions for equitable integration and successful of developing countries producers into sustainable agro-food chains and networks that are capable to satisfy these changing consumer demands. Supermarket procurement regimes for sourcing of vegetables, fruits, meat and dairy intensely impact the organization of the supply chain. The market requires continuous deliveries, product homogeneity, stable shelf life and quality upgrading. Procurement dependence on wholesale markets is quickly substituted by specialized wholesales, subcontracting with preferred consolidated and suppliers purchase in regional warehouses. Supermarkets therefore increasingly control downstream segments of the private standards, chain through contracts and sourcing networks. A typical example can be seen on particular food and beverage such as fast moving consumer goods where its not surprising that this industry cite a long list of high-priority concerns for their supply chains. Reducing logistics costs is the recurrent number one goal across all industries in the Annual 3PL Study, nonetheless additional main concern speak to the particular challenges of the fast-moving consumer goods category, including perfect order completion quickly identifying and reacting to changes in consumer demand and shortening new product time to- market and supply chain integration. British foods retailer manufacturer Tesco, for example, delivers direct-to-consumer within 24 hours of when the order is placed; in some markets that means delivery to one home on behalf of a number of customers or home delivery, while other markets kindness pickup at a kiosk or service centre. Thats challenging the food production manufacturer to upturn order accuracy and work to avoid out-of-stocks while managing with the costs incurred by operating so many delivery models. Fast-moving consumer goods manufacturers are acting on growing global awareness of the need to mitigate the environmental impact of manufacturing and logistics processes, by placing first priority on structure sustainability into the supply chain. Green is no longer leading edge or pioneering; it is now a normal part of a companys operations, driving the need for manufacturers and others to develop cohesive and comprehensive earth-friendly sourcing strategies. Improving shipment density and load utilization is one of these strategies, enabling manufacturers to maximize use of shipment capacity to reduce emissions, wasted capacity and potentially costs as well. Limited Brands Logistics Services, for example, continues to work on new configurations of its carton proportions to fit as much merchandise into containers as possible. Sustainability is a mandate to do a better job in the logistics area, says one FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) executive, whose company has been testing hybr id electric delivery trucks and working to comply with emerging sustainability. Shippers want 3PLs (Third Party Logistics) to help improve shipment density/load utilization, reduce logistics costs and establish a supply chain disruption/mitigation strategy, but they consider them less often for goals such as shortening new product time-to-market and supply chain integration. Shippers are also involving 3PLs in cost-reduction strategies less often than one might expect, with the biggest gaps in improved forecasting and inventory capabilities, rationalizing SKUs and redesigning the supply chain network. 3PLs see their role as much larger in these and other services. The trust issues that have consistently slowed the evolution of shipper-3PL relationships may be a factor in these gaps. Some shippers have tested sharing warehousing and transportation as a green and cost reduction strategy, with most reporting savings of less than 5%. Nevertheless, superiority in Operations remains an illusion for most food and beverage companies. This will be lasting as long as they stay limited within the mindsets associated and the organizational structures with todays vertically combined business model. According to a McKinsey report based on problems and opportunities relating to operational excellence, the study comes out with the following findings: 1. Operations issues get deserted from top-management two main business processes of consumer management and customer management. It suggests that operations issues get a lot less than 20% of the Executive Committees agenda time. To multifaceted the problem, only around 10% of top executives in food and beverage companies have straight personal experience in operations. It is barely surprising; however, that the promise to drive radical change may not be as resilient in operations as it is in the other two business processes. 2. Around 10% of FMCG companies have a global operations director with full responsibility for both operational development and strategic resource allocation. 3. Most of the top quartile talent is tapped for handling marketing or finance functions. Operations functions are short of management talent. High potential generalists often find food and beverage operations too internally focused and too technical. At the other end of the scale, senior operations experts are often attracted to other industries such as electronics, automotive or engineering where operations is both more highly rewarded and more highly regarded. These difficulties are not new. What is new is that a possible solution the mixture of organizational separation and value chain de-verticalisation. Deverticalisation International food and beverages companies that are able to attain organizational functionally and separation organized national companies This efficiently means outsourcing your supply chain actions to a third party. Naturally this will involve selling the existing activities and operations assets, as well as manufacturing, procurement, process RD and primary distribution, a third party manufacturer, financial buyer or a joint venture with other food and beverage companies. In essence, this leaves an asset light food and beverage company and an asset heavy supply company. How will it create value? From the perception of the food and beverage Company, the supply company of its will now be in a position to address the above-mentioned operational issues. A strongly incentivized management team frequently directly responsible to the capital markets. Although it will be better able to motivate and attract talented operations managers, emphasis 100% of its attention on operational skills and operations issues. However, operational distinction will translate directly into bottom-line impact. Accordingly deverticalisation allows the management of the food and beverages company to emphasis completely on consumer and customer management the key engines of growth though sharing in progressive operations cost developments over either an equity stake or open book supply contracts. From the financial outlook this would also help the food and beverage Company get a significant bound in return on capital employed. Social and cultural factors that influence the consumption of foods Influences on Food Choices There are many factors that determine what foods a person eats. In addition to personal preferences, there are cultural, social, religious, economic, environmental, and even political factors. Cultural influences A cultural group provides guidelines regarding acceptable foods, food combinations, eating patterns, and eating behaviors. Compliance with these guidelines creates a sense of identity and belonging for the individual Kittler (1998). Within large cultural groups, subgroups exist that may practice variations of the groups eating behaviors, though they are still considered part of the larger group (Haviland, William A. 1990). For example, a hamburger, French fries, and a soda are considered a typical American meal. Schlosser, Eric (2001). Someone who is repeatedly exposed to certain foods is less hesitant to eat them. For example, lobster traditionally was only available on the coasts, and is much more likely to be accepted as food by coastal dwellers. States, however, eat veggie-burgers made from mashed beans, pureed vegetables, or soy, and people on diets may eat a burger made from lean turkey. In the United States these are appropriate cultural substitutions, but a burger made from h orsemeat would be unacceptable (Klimis-Zacas et al: 2001). Religious proscriptions choice from a few to many, from relaxed to highly restrictive. This will affect a supporters food selections and behaviors. For example, in some religions specific foods are prohibited, such as pork among Jewish and Muslim adherents. Within Christianity, the Seventh-day Adventists dispirit stimulating beverages such as alcohol, which is not prohibited among Catholics. Social influences Members of a social group depend on each other, share a common culture, and influence each others behaviors and values. A persons membership in particular peer, work, or community groups impacts food behaviors. For example, a young person at a basketball game may eat certain foods when accompanied by friends and other foods when accompanied by his or her teacher. The Social Significance of Meat Consumption While vegetarianism is on the increase in Western societies (Amato and Partridge (1989); Beardsworth and Keil (1997); Dietz et al. (1995)), meat consumption is still a central part of the Western societies diet (Beardsworth and Keil (1997)). So far there is considerable indication that meat is not only unnecessary for a healthy diet, it is a leading contributor to many health problems (Amato and Partridge (1989); Lappà © (1991); Marcus (1998); Melina et al. (1995); Robbins (1987)). Given that general meat-eating behaviour in prosperous societies cannot be readily explained by biological necessity, other factors must play a major role in defining individual dietary habits. A critical macro-level approach suggests that the production of meat cannot simply be explained as a direct response to consumer demand, since production is affected by government subventions and industry groups, such as the pork and beef councils. Political economists argue that the economic elite control consumer preferences through means of social, psychological, and cultural manipulation for example, by the use of advertising (Schnaiberg (1980); Schnaiberg and Gould (1994)). Therefore, production may generate consumption because processors, producers, and marketers have cultural hegemony, that is, control over the beliefs and values of a culture. Consequently, from this perspective, the operational power of the meat industry is expected to be a major element of stages of meat consumption. Cronons (1991) analysis of how the U.S. meat industry grew throughout the 19th Century by transforming American agriculture provides clear support for the argument that consumer habits are greatly influenced by powerful corporate interests. However, although this viewpoint may explain aggregate levels of production and consumption in a society, it does not explain variation of consumer behaviour among individuals within a shared political economic context. However, a micro-level approach to understanding consumer patterns focuses on the social psychological factors that lead to food consumption. Dietz et al. (1995) and Kalof et al. (1999) argue that social psychological factors, such as beliefs and values, have a significant influence on consumer demand for various food types. The results of their analyses suggest that values and beliefs have a greater influence on the choice of a vegetarian diet than do demographic factors. Reliable with these results, other researchers have found that social psychological factors have a more effect on consumer request than do demographic and economic factors (Breidenstein (1988); Guseman et al. (1987); Sapp and Harrod (1989)). However, social structural factors form the context in which psychological factors operate. Social structural position such as (gender, race and class) probable plays an important role in determining each individuals life experiences, socialization, and psychological attributes . Distinguishing the intertwined reputation of psychology and social structure is necessary to appreciate behaviour. Both the critical the social psychological perspective and macro -level perspective have made significant contributions to our understanding of food and beverage in general and meat consumptions. The environmental literature recognizes industrial meat production as a prominent source of many environmental problems (Durning and Brough 1991; Ehrlich, Ehrlich and Daily 1995; Goodland 1997; Pimentel and Pimentel 1996; Rifkin 1992; Subak 1999). Nowadays, intensive meat production places a problem on ecosystems as it necessitates the usage of large quantities of natural resources mostly energy, land, and water used to produce feed grain (Durning and Brough 1991; Dutilh and Kramer 2000; Fiddes 1991). Comparative to the production of other vegetables and grain, problem for human consumption, the production of meat is tremendously resource ineffective several times more people can subsist on a vegetarian diet than can on a meat centered diet (Durning and Brough 1991; Dutilh and Kramer 2000; Ehrlich, Ehrlich and Daily 1995; Lappà © 1991; Rifkin 1992). Beef production is mostly supply intensive, having an even bigger impact on the environment than is recommended by the amount of grai n and the resources that goes into generating grain that it needs (Subak 1999). Beef grazing contributes to many environmental problems including desertification, soil erosion, loss of biological diversity and water pollution, (Durning and Brough 1991; Ehrlich, Ehrlich and Daily 1995; Pimentel and Pimentel 1996; Rifkin 1992). For example, millions of acres of tropical forest in Latin America have been empty for cattle grazing (Durning and Brough 1991; Harrison and Pearce 2000; Myers 1981). Moreover, due to their digestive physiology, cattle also emit a large quantity of a greenhouse gas, a methane, and their manure expels gaseous ammonia into the air, contributing to acid rain (Durning and Brough 1991; Harrison and Pearce 2000; Subak 1999). Changing Profile and Mind Set of Consumer People are becoming aware about hygienic and health. There is a transformation in the mind-set of the Consumer and now looking at Money for Value rather than Value for Money. We have seen inclination in consumers to move to advanced products/ brands, because of shifting lifestyles, growing disposable income etc. Consumers are switching from economy to premium product even we have witnessed a sharp increase in the sales of packaged water and water purifier. Porters five forces analysis of the food and beverage Source: Valuenotes.com, (2010) The intensity of rivalry is very high among the competitor of food and beverages Industry. There is a threat for new entrants as well as for substitute. Even there is high bargaining power for Suppliers as well as for Buyers. Rivalry among Competing Firms In the food and beverages industry, rivalry between competitors is very fierce. There are uncommon customers because the industry is highly saturated and the competitors try to seize their share of market. Market Players use all sorts of activities and tactics from intensive advertisement campaigns to price wars and promotional stuff etc. Therefore the intensity of rivalry is very high. Potential Entry of New Competitors Food and beverages industry does not have any methods which can control the entry of new firms. The conflict is very low and the structure of the industry is so multifaceted that new firms can easily enter and also offer tough competition due to cost effectiveness. Therefore prospective entry of new firms is extremely viable. Potential Development of Substitute Products There are never ending and complex consumer needs and no firm can satisfy all sorts of needs alone. There are adequately of substitute goods available in the market that can be re-placed if consumers are not satisfied with one. The varied range of needs and choices give an appropriate room for new product development that can substitute current goods. Every other day there is some short of new product, design and variants. This leads to higher consumers expectation. Bargaining Power of Suppliers The bargaining power of suppliers of intermediate goods and raw materials is not very high. There is ample number of substitute suppliers available and the raw materials are also willingly accessible and most of the raw materials are homogeneous. There is no monopoly situation in the supplier side as the suppliers are also challenging among themselves. Bargaining Power of Consumers Bargaining power of consumers is also very high. This is because in food and beverages industry the substituting costs of most of the goods is very low and there is no threat of buying one product over other. Customers are never unwilling to buy or attempt new things off the shelf. SWOT Analysis Strengths: Presence of well-known distribution networks in both urban and rural areas Low Operational Costs Occurrence of well-known brands in food and beverages sector Accessibility of raw materials Weaknesses: Me-too products which unlawfully mimic the brands and labels of the recognized brands Lower scope of investing in technology and achieving economies of scale, especially in small sectors Low exports levels Opportunities: Large domestic market over a billion populations Unexploited countryside market Increasing income levels, i.e. increase in purchasing power of consumers Trade potential and tax duty benefits for implementing exports units Threats: Regulatory and tax structure Exclusion of import restrictions ensuing in replacing of domestic brands Temporary Slowdown in Economy can have an impact on food and beverages industry Source: Valuenotes.com (2011) Conclusions With low margins and large volumes, food and beverages companies must react fast to deliver in-demand, on-trend products to shoppers where and when they want them, to avoid getting held with unwanted merchandise. The increasing integration of local and cross-border agro-food chains can be considered both a threat and a challenge for rural development. Poor farmers in developing countries who have limited resources and scarce access to markets and a more cautious, less faithful customer has arisen in the global recession, stimulating consumer goods manufacturers and their supplier and retailer partners to develop more responsive and demand-driven. A value-conscious customer is particularly challenging for producers of food and beverages.

Globalisation And Fierce Competition Causing Shorter Product Life Cycle Business Essay

Globalisation And Fierce Competition Causing Shorter Product Life Cycle Business Essay In an era of globalisation and fierce competition, the introduction of products with shorter and shorter life cycle and the heightened expectations of customers have forced companies to invest in and focus attention on their supply chain. Companies must be able to configure and utilize worldwide resources to keep up with the competition. It involves sourcing products from most appropriate manufacturing facility, keep balance between inventory, transportation and manufacturing cost and match supply and demand under uncertainty (Simchi-Levi, Kaminsky Simchi-Levi 2003). With the significant increases in different products, coupled with demands for higher throughput and reduced inventory, postponement will be one of the strategies used by the companies. The aim of this essay is to examine into the link between postponement and warehousing. The purpose of this essay is to discuss how a warehouse may play a role in postponement. This essay will begin by understanding the concept of postpo nement, the need and usage of postponement and types of postponements with different postponement activities and its lead time and cycle time restrictions. It will then look into the topics of inventory and warehousing such as the roles of the warehouses and the distribution methodologies. It will conclude by linking the use of warehouses in the practice of the postponement strategies. Concept of postponement Postponement is first implemented in manufacturing processes to reduce cost of inventory and improve service level within the company while the product variety increases. The concept of postponement is to delay the change in form, identity and place to the latest possible point until customer commitments have been obtained (Battezzati Coletta 2008). It is by exploiting the commonality between items and by designing the production and distribution process so as to delay the point of differentiation (Tayur, Ganeshan Magazine 1999). Postponement is closely intertwined with modularization where products in a certain product family are designed where all of them consist of different standardized units. With modularization, combination of different standardized sub-components allows the producing of different end products (Dekkers 2009). The form, function and place of the product are altered and is in contra with the push systems in which goods are manufactured entirely in anticipation of future customer orders and stored downstream without customers formulated specifications (Hoek 1997). Anderson (2004) wrote that postponement is a mass customization technique that is applicable for certain products that can have their variety postponed until just before shipping. Hoek (1997) illustrated a list of methods for achieving mass customization: Create products and services that are customizable by customers (involving design function) Modularize components to customize finished products and services (involving the manufacturing, distribution, marketing function and the product design). Provide quick response throughout the value chain (involving the design, manufacturing, distribution and marketing function). Customize services around standard products or services (involving the distribution and marketing function). Provide point of delivery customization (involving the marketing function). The need and usage for postponement Hoek (1997) stated that the application of postponement strategies is increasing in the practice of international business. Final processing or manufacturing activities are moving either upstream from national operations or downstream from global production plants. The biological products life cycle of product is the concern in respect to inventory risks and this is in contrast with electronics industries where short product life cycles in the market are a key driver of postponement. Postponement reduces the uncertainty and risks coupled with product variety. In additional, it saves costs and adds values to the supply chain by eliminating obsolete inventory and making the product to customers specification more easily (Baluch 2006). The accelerating need for simultaneous product differentiation, rapid delivery, regional product variation and competitive cost levels are also the factors that led to the usage of postponement strategy (Hoek 1997). Types of postponements Bowersox and Closs (cited in Hoek 1997) stated that there are three generic types of postponement: form, time and place postponement. Form postponement refers to the postponement of final manufacturing or processing activities; time postponement refers to the delaying of the forward movement of goods until customer orders have been received; place postponement refers to the positioning of inventories upstream in centralized manufacturing or distribution operations to postpone the forward or downstream movement of goods. With the combination of time and place postponement, it is referred to as logistics postponement. An example is whereby in centralized European distribution structures where goods are stored at a limited number of central locations and shipped to customers on the basis of actual orders. Depending on the type of final manufacturing operation, the type of product and market, Cooper (cited in Hoek 1997) specified four possible final manufacturing structures in postponement: unicentric manufacturing, bundled manufacturing, deferred assembly, deferred packaging. In unicentric manufacturing, the final stage of manufacturing is delayed until the point of consumption (Tayur, Ganeshan Magazine 1999). This type of postponement is used through integrated manufacturing in a global manufacturing plant, distribution to order, for global brands with standard formulation and peripherals for example CPUs. In bundled manufacturing, it is forecast-driven where final manufacturing in a continental plant, for products with a global brand, standard peripherals and different formulation, for example TVs. In deferred assembly, it is order-driven where final manufacturing or processing in the international distribution channel, for products with a global brand and different formulation and peripherals. Lastly on deferred packaging, it refers to packaging and configuring shipments in a local warehouse, for products with a global brand, standard formulation and different peripherals (Hoek 1997). Postponement activities Zinn and Bowersox (cited in Hoek 1997) presented in another fashion that focus on the activities. Five types of postponements are listed: labelling postponement, packaging postponement, assembly postponement, manufacturing postponement and time postponement. According to Hoek (1997), labelling and packaging postponement is related to the level of postponement in deferred packaging, both impacting the place and form of the finished product. For assembly and manufacturing postponement, it is in related to bundled manufacturing and deferred assembly where both impacting the form and place of the finished product and also its function. The distinction between assembly and manufacturing postponement is the use of various sourcing locations and the resulting converging stream of goods. Manufacturing postponement operation is obligated to have a complete job-shop layout in manufacturing postponement which contrasts to assembly postponement systems where products are sourced mainly from one source, only some peripherals or additives may be sourced locally. And lastly on time postponement, it is related to the level of postponement in unicentric manufacturing, in which the place of the finished goods in the supply chain is impacted. Examples of postponements strategies Robeson, Copacino and Howe (1994) have shared some examples of different postponement strategies used by various companies. Benetton have used manufacturing postponement or bundled manufacturing where the fabrics are dyed after the completion of the stitching processes, in which they are more able to react quickly and ship products of greater variety. Dell Computers is one of the examples where its standardised sub-components are kept standing by and the product is assembled upon order as part of the assembly postponement or deferred assembly structures. Hewlett Packard is another company that uses the packaging postponement strategy or deferred packaging where it handles the multilingual requirements of its customers through packaging postponement by including an instruction manual relevant to the language of the customer at the point of sales. An example for labelling postponement is for companies in food industries. Labelling is postponed until food marketing companies buy and bra nd it at different times during the year according to product and market conditions. Labelling postponement minimizes the risk of inaccurate forecasts on inventory and economizes on canning production during a busy season. Lead time and cycle time restrictions in postponement The evolution of a products variety, volume and weight throughout the process influences the extent to which it is possible to save transportation and inventory carrying costs by postponing variety, volume and/or weight increase. Short lead times may not require anticipation if final manufacturing can be performed within short cycle times. Manufacturing postponement is possible only when required lead times allow for a number of days additional lead time on top of transportation times. Products or activities can be performed with short lead times or cycle time for assembly postponement. Similarly on packaging and labelling postponement, it is more focused on rapid lead times. However, because of cycle time restrictions on form postponement, very short lead times is impossible and may also require very localized distribution channels at the extreme positioning inventories very close to customers in local depots (Hoek 1997). Inventory and warehousing According to Baker (2007), inventory cost took up 13 percent of the total logistics costs while warehousing accounted for a further 24 percent in the survey of logistics costs in Europe. Being significant in cost terms, warehousing play an important role in modern supply chain for better customer service. Product availability is being a key service metric and warehousing is being critical to the success of failure of many supply chains. Waters (cited in Baker 2007) indicated that increasing globalisation has led to longer supply lead-times which conventional inventory control theory resulted in greater levels of inventory to provide the same service levels. With the addition of more distant supply lines, there is a possibility of increasing variation in supply lead-time and increased the amount of safety stocks. Another factor is the transport economies of long distance movements where cost economies are be achieved by despatching in larger quantities with full container loads that i ncreased cycle stocks. Main role of warehouses According to Frazelle (2002), there have been with all the initiatives in e-commerce, supply chain integration, efficient consumer response, quick response and just-in-time delivery, the supply chain connecting manufacturing with end consumers can never be so well coordinated that eliminate the need of warehousing. The role and mission of warehouse operations are changing and will continue to change dramatically in the modern supply chains. Warehouses play several vital roles such as: Raw material and component warehouse: For holding raw materials at or near to point of induction into a manufacturing or assembly process Work-in-process warehouse: For holding partially completed assemblies and products at various points along an assembly or production line Finished good warehouse: For holding inventory to balance and buffer the variation between production schedules and demand Distribution warehouse and distribution centres: For accumulating and consolidating products from various points of manufacture within a single firm, or from several firms, for combined shipment to common customers. Fulfilling warehouses and fulfilling centres: For receiving, picking and shipping small orders for individual consumers Local warehouses: For distributing in the field in order to shorten transportation distance to permit rapid response to customer demand Value-added services warehouses: For serving as a facility for product customization activities to be executed, such as packaging, labelling, marking, pricing and return processing Dekkers (2009) added that these raw materials, work in progress and finished goods are stored in the warehouse to feed into production or to satisfy customer needs. The need of carrying inventories is due to the uncertainty in supply, future demand and lead-times that companies are faced with. Carrying inventories is in order to be use as buffer between different demand and supply rates. Also in the situation where suppliers have problems with delivery or qualities of materials, raw materials held in inventory can avoid stock-outs situations. Work in progress inventories are maintained because of the poor maintenance, unreliable working or fast schedule changes. Carrying inventories is also to provide for anticipated changes in demand and supply where there may be a drastic change in price of availability of raw materials or planned market promotion or where business is seasonal. According to Bask (2001), all manufacturing is executed before the products are distributed to the decentralized distribution system close to customer in a full speculation postponement strategy. Companies can have a more cost-effective production and purchase in producing or purchasing materials in lots. Due to ordering costs, quantity discounts and transportation cost in large lots, economies of scale are achieved as large standardized product lot-sizes can be manufactured and distributed. On the other had, the logistic postponement strategy differs from full speculation strategy with decentralised distribution system by using centralized inventory in which finalized products are distributed to a larger geographic area. Inventories were reduced with the advantage of high in-stock availability. Thereafter, products are transported in large lot-sizes to centralized warehouse, through with increased onward distribution costs compared to the decentralised system. Other roles of warehouses According to Baker (2007), the role of warehouses is theorised in many text books that the key warehouse functions are inventory holding and the servicing of customer orders from that inventory. Drucker (cited in Baker 2007) have stated that other roles for warehouses are being seen to be increasing important as they changed from holding yards to switching yards. Higginson and Bookbinder (cited in Baker 2007) listed of the roles of distribution centres as: Make/break-bulk consolidation centres for consolidating customer orders together into one delivery to gain transport economies. Cross-dock centres for satisfying customer orders from another source (e.g. a manufacturing plant) by passing through the distribution centre within a few hours Transhipment facilities for changing transport mode (e.g. from large line-haul vehicles to smaller delivery vehicles). Assembly facilities on which the final configuration of the product to individual customer requirements can take place. Product-fulfilment centres for responding directly to product orders from the final consumer (e.g. as internet fulfilment operations). Returned goods depots for handling unwanted and damaged goods, as well as goods returning under environmental legislation such as for product recovery and packaging waste. Miscellaneous roles, such as customer support, installation and repair services. Baker (2007) commented that a number of the above roles may be associated with some of the concepts, such as agility, production postponement and time compression and are recognised as increasing trends in warehousing in current modern supply chains. Conclusion Some business models particularly applicable to fashion and high-technology industries, they are suited to identify consumer trends and rapidly pushing product directly to the market. The use of flexible manufacturing systems, production postponement and the centralisation of inventory are put in place for this cause. With postponement strategies in place, it would be possible to identify the trade-offs between inventory and other supply chain elements, such a purchasing (e.g. bulk discounts on goods at lower unit purchase prices), manufacturing (e.g. lower production costs through less frequent change-over and hence larger batch sizes) and transport (e.g. full container load transport at lower unit transport costs) by utilizing the roles of the warehouse that may include a mix of elements such as inventory holding, order consolidating, cross docking and postponement activities.

Ivan Denisovich and Humanity :: Free Essay Writer

Ivan Denisovich and Humanity Who could possibly be able to imagine the utter hopelessness and misery that a soviet prisoner experienced during Stalinism. Thousands of innocent men were taken from their families, homes, and lives, stripped of their dignity and banished to the harsh labor camps where they were to spend the rest of the days scraping out an existence and living day to day. This is exactly what Alexander Solzhenitsyn tries to express in his masterpiece work One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. Solzhenitsyn gives the reader a glimpse into the life of every man who ever experienced this hardship and shares the small acts of thriving humanity that are sparingly, but unendingly passed through their dreary lives and offer a bit of comfort to help them get through a single hour, a day, or even just a meal time. Solzhenitsyn uses One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich to portray the endurance of humanity through out terrible hardships and shows the strength of the human spirit. Through out the day Ivan observes various acts of humanity that help him and his fellow prisoners retain a portion of their dignity even though the camps are specifically designed to completely degrade their captives. Denisovich, or Shukhov as he is called, uses small acts of consideration to help him and his gang get through the day. On the second page of the book, the reader learns that Shukhov often gets up early in the morning so that he may have a little time to himself and so he may even â€Å"bring one of the big gang bosses his dry felt boots while he was still in his bunk, to save him the trouble of hanging around the pile of boots in his bare feet and trying to find his own.† (pg.2). Though Shukhov may do various odd jobs such as â€Å"running around to one of the supply rooms where there might be a little job, sweeping or carrying something† or â€Å"going to the mess hall to pick up bowls from the tables and take piles of them to the dishwashers† in o rder to receive extra food, but this can also be seen as an act of honor. Rather than doing an underhanded deed such as stealing food from innocent men the way the camp orderlies do, Shukhov tries to earn his food through honest work such as repairing boots, making things to sell, or doing extra work.

French Revolution :: essays research papers

French Revolution "Revolutions evolve in definite phases. At first they are moderate in scope, then they become radical to excess and finally they are brought to abrupt conclusions by the emergence of a strong man to restore order." Discuss this statement with specific references to the French Revolution. The French Revolution brought about great changes in the society and government of France. The revolution, which lasted from 1789 to 1799, also had far-reaching effects on the rest of Europe. "It introduced democratic ideals to France but did not make the nation a democracy. However, it ended supreme rule by French kings and strengthened the middle class." (Durant, 12) After the revolution began, no European kings, nobles, or other members of the aristocracy could take their powers for granted or ignore the ideals of liberty and equality. The revolution began with a government financial crisis but quickly became a movement of reform and violent change. In one of the early events, a crowd in Paris captured the Bastille, a royal fortress and hated symbol of oppression. A series of elected legislatures then took control of the government. King Louis XVI and his wife, Marie Antoinette, were executed. Thousands of others met the same fate in a period known as the Reign of Terror. The revolution ended when Napoleon Bonaparte, a French general, took over the government. At the beginning of the revolution, events seemed minor and proceeded in a logical fashion. One of the reasons the revolution originated was the discontent among the lower and middle classes in France. By law, society was divided in to three groups called estates. The first estate was made of up clergy, nobles comprised the second and the rest of the citizens, the third estate. The third estate resented certain advantages of the first two estates. The clergy and nobles did not have to pay most taxes. The third estate, especially the peasants, had to provide almost all the country's tax revenue. Many members of the middle class were also worried by their social status. They were among the most important people in French society but were not recognized as such because they belonged to the third estate. "Financial crisis developed because the nation had gone deeply into debt to finance the Seven Years War (1756-1763) and the Revolutionary War (1775-1783)." (Durant, 22) The Parliament of Paris insisted that King Louis XVI could borrow more money or raise taxes only by calling a meeting of the States-General.